#01. 09/14/12
You have perhaps been watching or reading about the unrest happening in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, etc. This is a chain reaction over ‘The Innocence Of Muslims,’ the anti-Islam film that originated in America and has since gone viral as its creator intended. These violent outbreaks have led to deaths and injury and it’s fair to say that there will be more before things settle down, that is, if they do.

I have noticed that people are blaming all this turmoil on the president of the United States. While the president is certainly not a man without flaw, this one is not his fault.

The film, which has been protested non-violently in places like Benghazi, Libya. The attack on the consulate there was one of opportunity and is not representative of the vast majority of Libyans and how they feel about America. Nor are the protestors in Egypt. Egypt is a country of millions of people. The protestors are in the thousands.

I have read the whining of people complaining about the president not being a “strong leader” because what? Because he’s not dropping bombs and having people pay the price for messing with the U S of A? You need to get it through your head that you are dealing with other countries, the world is not your playground to blow things up in and every action has a consequence.

Do you understand how delicate some of these relationships are? Do you understand the work of diplomacy is a very nuanced and careful process? Do you understand that these relationships allow Americans and others to visit these countries and learn about other cultures, not to mention help keep them safe when they are there? Do you understand how this idiotic film has endangered Americans all over the world, potentially undone years of work, countless hours of meetings, talks, and extremely hard earned good will?

The creator of the film chose to make a product that he absolutely knew would cause turbulence in the Islamic world. Every second of the film was engineered to trigger a reaction. Why is the film maker in hiding? Why isn’t he proud of his work? He’s getting what he wants, right? Americans and others are getting killed over this. This man does this on his own and it’s the president’s fault? Perhaps this film maker should meet the relatives of the fallen Americans and explain himself. I am sure he would be able to get his point across, it being so valid. Perhaps he should be arrested and charged with multiple murders.

This film was not an exercise in freedom of speech, it was the abuse of that freedom. It was, sadly, what you do out of hatred and intolerance. This is what you do when your side is losing and you want to try and turn things around. This is what you do when you are a coward. That’s the worst part about it, the stunning cowardice.

Now we can look forward to the vandalizing of mosques in America. We can look forward to peaceful, law abiding American citizens getting hassled, injured or worse because of their religious affiliation or country of origin, real or perceived.

This what it is. It is a plain as the nose on your face. If anything, you now understand just how small the world really is. You now can understand without a doubt that we are all connected and how you conduct yourself matters. The rest is up to you.